


Give You The Stars

by CuriosityAesthetic



Category: Redacted ASMR
Genre: Best Friends in Love, Gender Neutral POV, Observatory Date, indulgent cuteness, romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriosityAesthetic/pseuds/CuriosityAesthetic
Summary: It’s Eli’s birthday and Sunshine has planned a date at the observatory. But what do you give to the dreamwalker that can make anything?Absolute self-indulgent cuteness abounds.
Relationships: Elliot/Listener, Elliot/Sunshine
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Give You The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Redacted has so many great characters but Elliot absolutely owns my heart.  
> I’ve been working on this since the last dreamwalker video dropped because observatory dates are fun and I thought Eli would enjoy it. And I just wanted to dive in and let my inner romantic go wild.

“Come on, Sunshine. Not even a little hint?”

I shook my head, laughing as Eli tried once more to wheedle our destination out of me. “Nope! I’m not going to give away the surprise. You’re just going to have to wait.”

I’d managed to keep this little day trip a secret for weeks. No way was I going to crack now.

He sat back in his seat with an adorable and exaggerated pout. “Tease.”

I glanced away from the road to give him a sly look. “That’s for later.” And had the pleasure of seeing him go red. 

My boy was a charmer, especially in the dreamscape, but it was nice to see that he could be wound up too.

We’d been driving for a couple of hours now, and had left a little early because I wanted to make sure we had as much time at our destination as I could give us. It would be worth the three-hour drive to the next city to see the look on his face when we arrived.

I could see him frowning curiously out of the corner of my eye as we passed the city “Welcome” sign, and could just imagine the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out where we were going. And he seemed to get all the more restless the closer we got. 

At last we turned a corner and he could see the angled roof and white spires of the city planetarium. His eyes lit with excitement and in that moment I swore I’d do anything to keep that delighted smile on his face. 

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I smiled back, and turned into the parking lot. I’d talked him into booking the day off work, so the place wouldn’t be too overcrowded with weekend tourists. It also made it much easier to find a decent parking spot. I picked one right next to the garden path that led to the front entrance. “You said you loved this place but haven’t been back since they finished the renovation and ---- “

Whatever else I was going to say was lost to his lips as he kissed me enthusiastically. I cupped his cheek in my hand, returning the kiss tenderly. And when he pulled away, we were both a little breathless. 

“Happy birthday, Eli.”

“God, I love you.” He kissed me once more, then grinned. “Race you to the door.”

Eli flung open his door and took off like a shot, laughing as I fumbled off my seatbelt and cursed him. I’d never catch him, I thought as I threw the car door shut behind me. Eli could run like the wind. But at least I could give him a run for his money. I booked it after him down the path, picking up speed as I hit the open plaza. I could see him up ahead of me, dashing past the colorful motion machine that was set in the middle of the square. That was something we would definitely have to take a closer look at later. 

Eli was only a few feet in front of me when his hand collided with the front door handle. “Ha! Victory!” He crowed as I skidded to a halt behind him.

“I’d say you cheated, but it’s your birthday so I will give you the victory.”

He gasped in mock affront. “Rude!”

I snickered, reaching out to tug his beanie down over his eyes. He swatted at me with a laugh, pulling the hat back into place with his free hand. He was just so cute, I couldn’t resist rising up to give him another quick kiss. “Come on. I’ve already got our tickets.”

I hadn’t been to the planetarium since I was a kid. It had always been a really cool place, but it was too long of a drive to make for convenient visits. It had gone through periodic closures over the last couple of years as they had done their renovations. The bright, open lobby was completely different from the dark space I remembered. The ticket desk at the center was in the same place, but the cafe to one side was a new addition for sure. 

Eli slipped his hand into mine as I pulled our tickets from the pocket of my leather jacket, leading him over to the check-in counter. 

“So, what do you think?” I asked, pulling a map from the display. “Do you want to start close to home and work our way out, or play in space and work our way back in.”

He leaned in over my shoulder to glance at the layout. “When are the theatre shows?”

“Um…. 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM it looks like. Oh hey, they have a show on remote observatories.” 

“So… maybe start in Earth sciences and history, and then the observatory show?” He suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” I stepped back, did a silly bow. “After you good sir.”

Eli laughed, taking my hand instead and pulling me along with him towards the Earth sciences exhibit. “Come on, you dork. Let’s go learn some science.”

  
  
  


There was something about running around a science center that made me feel like a kid again. And it seemed to have the effect on Eli. I’m not sure which of us had more fun running between the exhibits, Eli or me. There was an interactive floor display that simulated cracking and melting icebergs, and games to simulate plate tectonics. But my favorite part was the wind display that formed miniature tornadoes. 

I wasn’t like Eli. I had no powers of my own. But when I put my hands inside and held the little whirlwind in my hand, I wondered if this was what it was like. Was this what it was like for Eli, when he built worlds within dreams? To hold a force of nature in the palm of his hand?

I turned to ask him and found myself faced with Eli’s camera and an affectionate smile. 

“What?”

He shook his head and tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Nothing. You just… looked really happy. I wanted to preserve the moment.”

“God, you’re sweet.” I shook my head. “You sap.”

“Yeah, but I’m your sap,” he grinned back at me.

“Always and forever,” I confirmed. “You wanna give this thing a try?”

“Hell yeah!” He crouched down beside me, taking my place in front of the opening of the wind machine and started up the mechanism. It took a moment for the misty little funnel cloud to reappear, and when it did the smile that lit Eli’s face was infectious. He laughed, delighted, as he swirled his hands through the little whirlwind, gathering smoky handfuls of the artificially created clouds. 

I couldn’t help it. I took a picture of him too. I couldn’t save the images of him in dreams, the pride and joy on his face as he crafted worlds around us. But I could capture this moment. 

“It’s different… doing this in real life,” he said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Wind, real wind, does what it wants. I can’t control this. I can just…. feel it.”

He’d told me once that this was the best part about the waking world: the surprises that come with the lack of control. When you had complete control over thousands of variables, even the fantastic could become mundane. But reality would always provide something new and unpredictable. 

“This… this is real magic.”

“ _ You _ are real magic,” I replied, leaning comfortably against him. “Not just because of the dreamwalking. My world lit up the moment I met you.”

Eli smiled, reaching out to tuck an errant bit of hair behind my ear. I turned, pressing a light kiss into his palm. Our relationship was full of little gestures like this. Had been even before we got together. Now in addition to those casual touches, those errant moments of affection, there were brief caresses and soft kisses, knowing we would have time for more touching and longer kisses later. 

“I love you too, Sunshine.”

  
  
  
  


The next exhibit covered the history of astronomy, from prehistory and the Ancient World -- Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia -- through the great masters of the Renaissance and the Mesoamericas, to the modern day. There were exhibits on Aristophanes, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Gan De, and Al-Khwarizmi next to ones for Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler. Replicas of ancient star maps and observation equipment, sextants and Mayan calendars. 

Eli was absolutely fascinated. Most of these things he had seen online in some fashion, but it was a very different thing from being able to handle the real deal. 

And if we instantly regressed to twelve years old the moment we saw their pirate ship display, well…. That’s what it was there for, right? It was a good thing the exhibit was mostly empty, otherwise there would definitely have been some concerned looks over our mad cackling as we ran for the ship and climbed onto the deck. 

Eli scrambled into the crow’s nest on the small, raised platform that served as the ship’s “mast”, grabbing for one of the collapsible spyglasses that had been set up there, and pointing it to the ceiling, which had been painted to look like the night sky. 

I went for the helm to give the wheel an enthusiastic spin. “Alright Navigator Eli, give us our heading!”

“Ten degrees north and seven degrees west, captain!” He crowed back, pointing slightly to our right. 

I spun the wheel again and sneakily took another picture of Eli playing with the telescope. At this rate, I was going to have an entire album just from today, but I didn’t care. 

Unfortunately, we were forced to abandon our pirate shenanigans when a small playgroup came in. As much fun as it was to abandon all sense of maturity and just play pirates, we still had so much more to see, and one of the observatory shows that we wanted to see was going to start soon, so we left the history exhibit and headed upstairs to the theatre. 

  
  
  


Outside of the observatory theatre dome was a new addition: a darkened lobby with a projector aimed at one wall. Colourful lights followed each person that entered the room, creating bursts of sparks and colourful swirls depending on how they moved. 

I waved my hand and smiled at the gathering of green sparkles that followed the shadow of my fingers, trailing like a miniature comet. And lost all sense of dignity when Elliot started moonwalking next to me.

I had no idea how he did it. His shoes ghosted over the rough carpet as if he was floating. 

“This is absolutely unfair. How in the hell can you do that?” I asked him. “Like the dreamwalking is one thing, but what eldritch power did you bargain with to be able to moonwalk on carpet?”

He snickered, giving an utterly unrepentant grin. “Natural talent, Sunshine. Come on, it’s not that hard.”

“Um, yeah, it is. You know full well that I can no more manage a proper moonwalk than I can twerk.”

Eli let out a bark of laughter, remembering my last utterly failed attempt one night while we were goofing off in our apartment. 

“Yeah yeah, yuk it up, dream boy.”

He quirked an eyebrow and gave me such a smug look I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kiss him or yank his hat over his face again. “Dream boy, huh?”

“Oh shut up,” I laughed. 

“I mean I know I’m literally the man of your dreams but — hey!” He cut himself off as I poked him in the side. “I thought that was a good one. No tickling.”

“No tickling?” I asked as I advanced on him waggling my fingers threateningly. “When did we make that rule?”

“Now. Right now. No tickling.”

“Oh no, it’s far too late for that.” I ran at him, just missing as he darted out of my way. My next attempt just caught the hem of his jacket. 

He laughed, ducking away, making sure to keep just out of my reach. Multi-colored sparks followed our silhouettes across the wall as I chased him, leaving brilliant fireworks and gleaming constellations in our wake.

At last, I thought I had him, but at the last second, Eli twisted away, reappearing behind me and wrapping his arms around me to pin my hands to my front. “Ha! Got you.”

“What -- hey! No fair!”

“Too late for that,” he echoed, pressing loud, smacking kisses down my neck as I laughed and squirmed against him. “Now submit to your punishment.” He rocked me back and forth, keeping me deliberately off-balance as we swayed.

Around us the song that had been playing softly in the background changed, and I could hear the familiar tinkling music-box like strains of one of my favorite songs.

_ Take my hand _

_ I’ll teach you to dance _

_ I’ll spin you around _

_ Won’t let you fall down _

_ Would you let me lead? _

_ You can step on my feet _

_ Give it a try _

_ It’ll be alright _

Eli released his grip on me, and spun me out before catching one of my hands in his. Then he bowed, brushing a gentle kiss across my knuckles. “Care to dance, Sunshine?”

I nodded, and he pulled me in again, taking my right hand in his left as I settled my left hand on his shoulder. His right hand was warm and comfortable at my back, guiding me as he stepped forward. 

Fred and Ginger we were not, but that didn’t matter. As long as my hand was in his, everything was perfect. 

  
  
  
  


We almost forgot about the planetarium show. It wasn’t until one of the staff members poked their head out of the theatre door that we even remembered that was what we had wanted to see. Elliot held my hand all the way through. Another quiet touch that meant that even when his attention was rapt upon the screen, the moment was ours to share. 

After the show we started heading through the space exhibit. A fierce rivalry sprung up between us when we discovered a game that required us to shoot foam rockets through different hoops. What started as friendly competition and ribbing soon turned into poking and other playful interference. He would cover my eyes as I tried to aim, or I would hug him from behind and kiss the sensitive spot right behind his ear, causing him to misfire wildly.

We became allies again when we found the mars rover game. That one was more of a team effort, requiring both of us to steer the little cart over the digital terrain. 

And when Elliot found a game that allowed you to design your own planets, and would generate alien beings that might be found in such a habitat, you’d swear he’d been given the key to the universe. He played with every conceivable combination, snapping pictures of the final results with his phone. “For research purposes,” he claimed.

“I swear to God, if you try to jump scare me with one of those things, you are in big trouble,” I warned him. 

“Aw, come on,” he pouted, slinging one arm around me and pulling me in close. “I’d never do that to you, baby. Our outrageously loud upstairs neighbors, however…”

“Eli,” I laughed, shoving him away. “No dream-pranking the neighbours. It’s not fair.”

“Neither are their 6 AM cleaning binges,” he retorted. “I swear if I ever hear them kick up that vacuum before 8 AM, I’m going to lose it.”

“So let’s leave them a note like normal people. Then they might actually get a clue that their vacuuming is disruptive.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Poor muffin. I’m sure we can find someone for you to torment with weird aliens.”

“You sure you don’t want — “

“Absolutely not.”

  
  
  


After lunch at the cafe, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the rest of the exhibits. They had one dedicated entirely to the lunar landing, another on meteors and comets, and a really interesting section on deep space and black holes and other phenomena.

And maybe we spent too much time in the gift shop afterwards but that was pretty much obligatory. We must have played with every single toy that wasn’t sealed in plastic, and Eli insisted on buying a tee shirt with a glow in the dark star map on the front. And I absolutely gave in to sentiment and bought a wrapped leather cuff with a silver sun ornament on the front. A little piece of our day that I could keep with me. 

  
  


The drive home was uneventful after the rush of the day. Eli even drifted off for a bit part way through the drive. 

The sky was dark when we got home. After I parked the car Eli leaned in and kissed my cheek.

“Thank you, sunshine,” he said with a warm smile. “This was the best birthday ever.”

“I’m glad.” I turned so my mouth met his and kissed him again. I had one more surprise waiting for him back in our apartment. The part of my plan that I was most nervous about. 

Just a few minutes more…

As I unlocked our apartment, Elliott called out for pizza. It was, he said, a birthday tradition. One that we had shared for all of the years that I’d known him. And as he set down his phone and dropped onto the couch, I retrieved his last surprise from the top shelf of our closet.

“What’s this?”

“Your birthday present.” I sat down on the couch next to him, settling in close.

He turned the box over curiously. “I thought the planetarium was my present.”

“Consider it part one. This is part two.”

It was cute, watching him be so careful as he unwrapped the box, trying to avoid tearing the sparkly cellophane. Finding the plain blue box and pulling off the lid to see what was inside.

“You… you had a star named after me.” His voice was soft with disbelief. 

“I can’t give you the stars,” I told him as he pulled out the framed certificate. “But I can give you this one.”

Eli turned to me, and the smile on his face could have lit the entire city. “Babe, I -- “ He shook his head, and for the first time in all the years I’d known him, words seemed to fail him.

“There’s a map here too,” I said, reaching out and pulling out another piece of paper from the box. “See, it’s right here. It’s not visible right now but if we go for a drive with your telescope some time this spring we should -- “

I trailed off as I felt the brush of his fingertips under my chin, angling my head just enough for him to press his lips to mine in a kiss so tender it stole my breath. I sighed against his mouth, melting into his touch. And when our lips parted it took a solid minute for me to remember how to speak. 

“Oh. Um… heh… so… I guess you like your gift then?”

His only answer was to kiss me again.

I took that as a yes.

  
  
  
  



End file.
